To use this variant Magic System, simply use the
Adeptology document in its entirety with
the exception of sections that have been "overridden" by this document, as
indicated in the section headers below.

Thanomancy is a form of Arcane Magic.
Thanomancers are naturally occurring individuals able to warp reality to their
will in various ways by using Life Force to work Magic.

While Thanomancers are able to power some
of their Magic off of their own residual Life Force, to be truly effective
they must steal or borrow the Life Forces of others. This does not
necessarily require a Thanomancer to kill others; they can take a little off
of several people if they want, but few practice such discretion.

Thanomancers may not be appropriate to all
settings or campaigns, or even when they exist they may not be suitable as
Player Characters in some GM's games due to their grim means to power.
However, in some games with thicker skinned players they can be very
interesting additions to an adventuring group. They definitely introduce an
interesting dynamic.

The
Adeptology model is used as the base
mechanic for this type of Magic, but with some changes where noted below.

MODIFY: Means to Power

The general rules given in the Means to Power
section of Adeptology apply to Thanomancy, but with the following
alterations.

Thanomancy requires a
custom Talent called "Magical Adept (Thanomancy)" that can only be taken at Character
Creation to allow access to the Magic System. This is described more fully
under Restrictions below.

A character with the
Magical Adept
Talent can at any point in their careers start purchasing an Adeptology
Variable Power Pool defined as follows.

As mentioned above a Thanomancer must take a Magical Adept Talent at Character Creation.

Magical Adept (Thanomancy)

A Thanomancer is born with the
capacity to use Thanomancy. This ability may only be taken at character
creation.

Magical Adept (Thanomancy) Cost: 2
Points

THANOMANCY ENDURANCE RESERVE

All Thanomancers must have an END Reserve and all of
the Magic Spells cast from their VPP must cost END from a Thanomancy END Reserve,
without exception. The standard "May Use Either Personal END or END
Reserve" +1/4 Advantage may not be used.

The END Reserve may have any amount of END, but the
normal non-adjusted REC of the END Reserve can never be greater than the
characters total points (not including any Magic Items or other Equipment)
divided by 150, rounded in the characters favor according to the standard
HERO System metarule.

Thus a character with 125 Character Points can have 1
REC on their Thanomancy EN Reserve, while a 280 Character Point character
can have a REC of 2, and a character with 360 Character Points can also have
a REC of 2.

DRAIN LIFE

Thanomancers fuel their Magic by draining the "Life
Force" from others.

All Thanomancers must have a Transfer from BODY to the
REC of their END Reserve (an example is provided below), which must be bought
as a Power. This Transfer has the SFX of Magic, Thanomancy, and
Negative Energy.

This ability may be built in various ways,
though the GM can of course reject any version of the ability as they see
fit. This Power must cost Personal END, not END from the Thanomancers END
Reserve.

Thanomancers can create Magic Items using Transform to
add abilities to mundane Items using the rules given under the Transform
Power. However, all Powers added to an item in this fashion must cost END
from a Thanomancy END Reserve, and must have a limited form of Independent
applied to it

THANOMANTRIC INDEPENDENT

Thanomantric Item: Independent (Requires
Gift of Thanomancy) (-1/4)

To create such an item the Thanomancer costs a
Thanomancer Character Point equal to the Real Cost / 5 of the Powers added
to the Item rounded in the character's favor. Thus if a Thanomancer wanted
to add Powers to a mundane item with a total Real Cost of 27, then the
Thanomancer would need to have 5 unspent Character Points and these 5
Character Points would be lost upon creation of the Item.

The following sample item represents a helmet that has
had several Powers in an Elemental Control added to it by a Thanomancer. The
Helm has a total Real Cost of 50, so it would cost a Thanomancer 10
Character Points to make this item.